


Straight Line Down Through the Heart

by still_lycoris



Category: Blake's 7
Genre: Angst, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Multi, Pre-Series, Sibling Incest, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-05
Updated: 2014-06-05
Packaged: 2018-02-03 13:44:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1746761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/still_lycoris/pseuds/still_lycoris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Del Grant didn't expect Anna to come back into his life. Didn't expect her to start a relationship with his kind-of friend Kerr Avon. Didn't expect them both to have secrets. Didn't expect his life to be turned inside-out ...</p><p>Didn't expect everything to fall apart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Straight Line Down Through the Heart

He wasn’t sure he wanted Anna to come.

Too much time. Too many secrets. They had hardly seen each other since childhood, only exchanged letters and vistapes. He didn’t really know what she did, how she lived. She had no idea how _he_ lived. She could be a Federation goody-goody, might tell them about his less savoury activities, if she found out about them.

But she was his sister. And although her letter was light in tone, he could tell she needed help. Something was wrong, even if he didn’t know what. So he told her his door was always open to her and put the guns in his bedroom.

*

He had a reputation for being the best at what he did. And what he did was almost anything, if you were willing to pay. He broke into things. Stole things. Found things. Gave people things. Did things. He was a mercenary and he didn’t care. Oh, he had a day job to keep the government off his back but mostly, his money came from his work.

But it was very illegal. There were a lot of people who would arrest him if they could.

He was pretty sure Anna wasn’t like that. She’d always been adventurous as a child, when he’d seen her. Getting into scrapes, having fun. Perhaps she was still that way.

But Del Grant knew better than to take anybody on trust.

*

She had changed a lot. Her hair was longer, brighter. She wore a standard jumpsuit but it fitted her well. When she hugged him, he noticed that she smelt slightly sweet, perfume perhaps? It was nice, he liked it. He hugged her back, took her back to the flat and helped her settle in. She admired the place, eyed the filter that he had on the water system with some confusion.

“What’s that for?”

“To take the drugs out of the water.”

She looked at him. Del stared back, wondering what the response would be. Questioning the idea that there were drugs at all? Some people didn’t know it, didn’t believe it. Horrified that he didn’t want to accept the forced docility? Suspicion?

None of the above, it seemed. She just nodded her head, gave a small shrug and turned her attention to other things.

It wasn’t quite the right response. He tidied that away in his mind to dwell on later. Not quite right.

*

He took her out that night, to celebrate her visit. Nowhere very special – in theory, he couldn’t afford anywhere very special, not on his official salary. Just to eat and then to a bar he rather liked afterwards. Anna seemed to enjoy all of it very much and Del found himself relaxing a bit. She was so chatty, so open – a lot like he remembered her being from the snatched moments in their childhood. She was full of funny stories about people she had worked with or met and Del found himself laughing more than he had in a while.

“That man’s looking at us,” Anna said suddenly. “Is he a friend of yours?”

Del followed the gentle tilt of her head and saw who she meant immediately. In an odd way, he supposed he’d half-hoped Avon would be there that night. Of course, Avon wasn’t approaching – he was staring uneasily at them, puzzled by Anna’s presence. He probably thought Anna was a girlfriend or a contact or something in-between. 

Del wasn’t sure what he wanted Avon to think. 

“He’s Avon,” he said, deciding not to offer anything more than that.

“A friend?” Anna repeated, raising an eyebrow at him. “A co-worker? A man you sometimes get drunk with?”

Del might have answered less enigmatically if he’d been really sure. Avon was … well. Avon. 

“He’s probably a friend,” he settled for. Anna threw up her hands, got up and walked over to where Avon stood. Del watched, a little curious. He couldn’t see Anna’s face but he could see Avon’s. Avon looked suspicious, puzzled., Anna took his arm and began to pull him to the table and the expression changed to complete bewilderment. It was amusing - he’d never seen Avon look surprised before.

“Any friend of Del’s is a friend of mine,” Anna said firmly, all but pushing Avon into the seat.

“Really?” Avon drawled but he didn’t say more, much to Del’s relief. Anna just smiled.

“Really,” she said and ordered them another round of drinks.

*

Del had only met Avon a few months ago. It had been an unusual act of charity on his part. Avon had broken curfew, almost been caught by guards. Del had hidden him in his flat. It had been a strange night. Avon had been wary as a trapped animal, apparently sure that Del wanted something from him and Del had been equally sure he couldn’t trust Avon not to steal his things or attack him while he slept. They had stayed awake most of the night, watching each other, eventually talking. Avon adjusted Del’s filter to make it work better, added security to Del’s computer systems. He hadn’t explained what he’d been doing out. Del hadn’t asked.

It should have been the end of it but Del had sought him out a few days later and Avon had allowed it. They’d met a few times now. Generally, they drank, argued and then went their separate ways.

For some reason, Del rather liked it.

*

“He’s handsome, isn’t he?” Anna said on the way home.

“ _Avon?!_ ”

He didn’t see it. Avon was sallow and lank, a bleached figure in his grey jumpsuits. His voice was too high, his eyes always shadowed.

“You don’t see it?” she said. “Really?”

Perhaps in another colour, perhaps after a little sun, something to make those eyes stand out more, a touch of colour to those fleshy lips …

“You’re blushing!” she teased, nudging him. “Do you want him then?”

“Don’t be daft! Who’d want Avon?”

“I might.”

“Have him then,” he said flippantly, dismissing the faint lurch in his stomach as too much drink.

*

Avon met him out of work a few days later.

“Your sister wants me to come round to dinner.”

“Why are you telling me?”

“People don’t invite me round for dinner, Del.”

He couldn’t help grinning at that. No, he betted they didn’t.

“A new experience for you then. Bring a bottle.”

Avon did. It was surprisingly expensive wine which he wouldn’t explain how he’d got. They ate and drank. Del argued with Avon about the stories leaking back from the settlements on Veltor Five about famine and if the government should be helping. Anna eventually ended the argument by beginning her own with Avon about the rumours of alien ships being sighted on the Outer Worlds. In the end, Del left them to that one. He drifted off to sleep, listening to the hum of them squabbling.

It was actually a more enjoyable sound than he would have expected.

*

There was something Anna wasn’t telling him.

He wasn’t sure what it was but he knew there was _something_ , had known from the start. He had told her he would support her while she was on her holiday but she’d got herself a “temporary” job, was offering him rent as though she hoped to stay. She jumped at noises, more than he would have expected her to. He’d told a few stories about a few of his mildly illegal activities to see how she reacted. Most people would have been at least a little shocked. Anna seemed only surprised and interested.

When he mentioned that he had been outside the Domes, she didn’t ask any of the questions he might have expected her to ask. Anna had never been outside as far as he knew.

No, there was something she wasn’t telling him. And Del wasn’t sure how worried he ought to be.

*

Avon was coming around a lot.

Del was becoming more and more aware that Anna had been serious about her comments. She looked at Avon with open admiration, found excuses to touch him. At first, Avon had seemed to find this slightly disturbing but now he appeared more relaxed with it, allowing the touches and even responding. There was a look in his eyes when he watched Anna, an uncertain … fascination?

Del didn’t know quite how he felt about it. 

*

One day, he arrived back from a “special” job and found them kissing on the couch.

 _Kissing_ was a loose word for it. They were entangled with each other, frantic and needy. Anna’s legs raised, curled around Avon’s waist, Avon’s hands were in her hair, golden strands wound around his fingers. His mouth was pressed against hers, greedy, devouring. They were making sounds, desperate pants and gasps and Avon was moaning, a sound that Del had never really believed he could make.

They hadn’t even noticed he was there. He left them to it, closing the door quietly behind him and went for a walk. He couldn’t stop thinking about them, couldn’t stop wondering where they were up to now. Were they still kissing? Had they reached the stage of removing clothes? Were they still on his couch?

Why was he thinking about it so much?

They weren’t kissing any more when he returned. Anna made him a drink, her hair bouncing around her shoulders. Avon sat on the couch, expression neutral. They didn’t hint at any change. Del didn’t ask.

He wasn’t sure he wanted to ask.

*

“I think I’m falling in love with him, Del.”

The confession wasn’t unexpected. Anna and Avon weren’t hiding their feelings. Del had watched them stand together, wanted them touch hands and shoulders and hips. Avon delighted in playing with Anna’s hair, twisting the strands around his fingers. When they watched viscasts together, Anna would curl against Avon’s side, sometimes half-drowsing against his shoulder. Del just watched.

“Are you sure?” he asked and then. “Do you think he loves you back?”

“I don’t know. How can I know? He doesn’t talk like that, you know he doesn’t. He … he seems happy, doesn’t he?”

Big, anxious eyes met his. What could he say? Avon _did_ seem happy, happier than Del could remember but he hadn’t known Avon long. Seeming happy wasn’t the same as love. They’d only known each other such a short time, how could they be sure?

Was it really his business to say any of this?

“Would you like me to talk to him?”

She raised her eyebrow at him. Del shrugged.

“Do you really think you love him, Anna?”

“He’s special to me,” was all Anna said to that.

*

He took Avon out for a drink, leaving Anna at home. Avon was at his wariest, clearly suspicious about what Del wanted to say to him. Del decided not to waste time.

“Do you love her?”

Avon twitched, looked away. Obviously, he found it no easier to answer that question when posed by Del. His fingers flickered over his glass, twining around the stem. Del tried not to think about those fingers wrapped in Anna’s hair.

“ _Could_ you love her? Is that easier for you?”

“She … is important to me,” Avon sounded stiff, stilted. “I want her to be happy with me.”

From Avon, that was practically a declaration. Del looked at him, at the flush on his sallow cheeks, the way his breathing had quickened. He felt that lurch again.

“She feels the same about you,” was all he said.

*

He’d never really had anyone of his own. He had to be too careful of people. Oh, there had been encounters but nothing meaningful, nothing he wanted to be meaningful. He’d thought it would always be that way. He hadn’t taken what Anna had said seriously …

Perhaps he should have done.

But it was too late now. 

*

They were watching a viscast when things changed again.

He had been paying attention to it because they were talking about the Freedom party and he’d done a little work for them, on and off. Nothing very special, just smuggling a few people into the right places. Avon hadn’t been listening at all. He’d thought Anna hadn’t been listening until she started to cry.

“Anna? Anna!”

Avon’s look of pure panic would have been laughable, if Anna hadn’t been sobbing so hard. Del pulled her into his arms, rocked her gently, trying to work out what had set her off so. Avon sat back, staring at them both, clearly at a loss.

“I’m sorry!” Anna sobbed. “I’m so sorry! Oh, it was just hearing about that, hearing about the executions … oh Del, I should have told you before, I know I should but I was _scared_ … ”

“Scared of what?”

She looked at him, expression wretched. Del stroked her cheek.

“Tell me.”

It came out of her in a rush them, a flow of babbled words. She hadn’t _meant_ to get involved, not really, it was just that Lala had been telling her things about it and it had sounded exciting really, almost a game at first and then she’d realised it was serious but it had been too late and she’d been scared and anyway, the Freedom Party had some good points, didn’t they, everybody had a right to speak and why should they all be drugged, it wasn’t fair, they were sensible people, not criminals. She’d thought it would be all right but then, then there’d been that massacre, Lala had been there and died and she’d got scared and she’d thought she could come and see Del and be safe only she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it and they said some members had turned traitor and they’d come for her and they might hurt Del and Avon too …

Del listened, pieces clicking neatly together. So many of Anna’s inappropriate reactions to things made sense now. She’d _been_ outside herself to attend secret meetings, she’d had a filter of her own. She knew. She understood.

“We can hide you,” he promised. “I know people, Anna. I can get you away from anything.”

“But I’ll never feel safe, will I? They’ll still be looking. All it will take is going to work on the wrong day … ”

She was beginning to sound like she was going to burst into tears again. Avon finally moved, almost jerking forward and gripping her shoulders, forcing her to turn and face him.

“No,” he said. “ _No_. Anna, you’ll be safe. _We’ll_ be safe. I haven’t told you, I didn’t … I’m going to make myself rich, Anna. Untouchably rich. You too. I’m going to leave this Dome, find somewhere … you can come with me. No one will hurt us, Anna. Ever again.”

They both stared at him. Avon stared back, his eyes burning. He spread his hands out and began to explain.

It wasn’t a bad plan. Avon had obviously spent time considering it, developing it. It was bigger than anything Del had ever done before but he could already feel his heart fluttering at the challenge of it. Not that his part was very big – Avon needed a few contacts, a few ways into the building so he could access the systems that couldn’t be hacked into remotely. Del could help with that.

“If you’re caught, they’ll exile you for sure,” he warned.

“I won’t be caught.” Avon’s confidence was absolute, at least until he looked at Anna again. “Anna? You … you haven’t said anything.”

“You … you really mean it? We’ll be free?”

“We’ll be rich enough to go anywhere, do anything. I will never allow anybody to hurt you.”

She threw her arms around his neck with a small cry. Avon held her tight and Del watched them silently, suddenly lost.

*

Avon stayed the night that night. Del lay there in the darkness, listening to them make love in Anna’s room. They tried to be quiet, _were_ quiet but somehow, he could hear it all, every gasped breath and moan and the soft rocking of their bodies and Avon chanting Anna’s name like it was a lucky charm to him.

He told himself it was normal to be aroused, that it had been a long time, that he wasn’t really thinking of _them_ so much as the fact that he hadn’t had anybody for so long, that he was sex-starved and love-starved and suddenly felt like there was nobody …

The intensity of the emotions was disturbing. He’d thought he was quite content the way he was. He didn’t need people to be close, it was a danger to him and them. He had friends. He didn’t need more.

He just suddenly wanted it.

*

It was something people joked about more than anything else. The idea that long separations caused by space travel, caused by the odd lives people lived in different Domes led to incest. Del had never really believed it. He supposed he could see a certain logic to the idea but it just hadn’t made sense to him.

Perhaps it was just jealousy. He’d only just found Anna again, only just realised he _wanted_ to be close. Now she was involved with Avon and he seemed to be interested in Avon and … well, perhaps that had muddied the waters.

It was easier to accept that than anything else.

*

He helped Avon break into the bank himself. It was easier than outsourcing and anyway, he believed in his own abilities far more than anybody else’s. He watched as Avon crouched at a terminal, uploading something which would let him remote-access this part of the system.

“It’s very clever,” he murmured and then, with a brilliant smile, “I’m better.”

“It won’t be worth anything if we get caught. Hurry up. Security guards can’t always be relied on to stay in their offices, you know.”

This one certainly couldn’t be. They ended up pressed together in a cupboard, waiting for her to return so they knew it was safe. Del breathed in Avon’s oddly metallic scent, wondering if he was imagining a touch of Anna’s flowers. He told himself he wasn’t enjoying being pressed so tightly against Avon at all.

“Del.” Avon’s voice was soft, right beside his ear. “Come with us. I know Anna would like it.”

Come with them. It was tempting. Avon was paying him well but if he went with them, he’d have a proper share of all the money. He would be with them both, for however long he wanted it …

“I’d be bored stiff in days,” he whispered back. “I’d only bring danger and you both want to be safe. I’ll visit.”

Avon gave a soft sigh and Del could have sworn there was real regret there. Well. It wasn’t as though Avon had many friends.

“How long before you go?”

“Another two weeks, if this all goes to plan. Come on. She’s gone.”

He slid from the cupboard and after a moment, Del followed.

*

It was a horrible shock when Avon told him the plan had changed.

“Somebody’s looking. I’m _sure_ somebody’s looking, there’s evidence … I don’t want to risk it, Anna and I have to hide. I’ve got somewhere prepared and I can get us passes. Everything else I need, I can get from off-world. We need to get away, Del. It’s too close.”

He was right, of course. Hadn’t Del done the same sort of thing himself, encouraged others to hide themselves at the right moments? Why did he want to tell them not to go? 

Anna looked like she was going to cry and he hugged her to him, stroking that lovely hair.

“Anna, you’ll be fine. Avon knows what he’s doing, he’s learned from the best.”

“You, you mean?” she teased and he stepped away from her to bow. 

“But of course.”

“Oh Del,” she said. “Oh Del, I shall _miss_ you.”

“Anna, it’s not forever, don’t be silly, you’re going away, that’s all, I’ll come and see you. I’m Del Grant, there’s nobody better at me at sneaking into places I shouldn’t be. You couldn’t keep me away if you tried!”

She didn’t look convinced. She turned to Avon, appealingly.

“One last night, Avon? Please? I need … they won’t come for us tonight, we can go in the morning … ”

Avon hovered, expression uneasy. Then he shrugged.

“One night.”

*

They ate. They drank. Del drank a _lot_ , enjoying the relaxing blur the drink brought to the proceedings. He didn’t want them to go. He knew he couldn’t go with them, knew he was right but … he would miss them. He would miss them both.

Anna curled at his side, her eyes filled with emotions Del didn’t think he understood. Avon sat with her, every now and then reaching up to touch her hair, as though he were afraid it would vanish from him. 

“You could still come with us, Del. I can get you a visa.”

“I’m better off here,” he said firmly. “Don’t risk your plans because of sentiment, Avon.”

“Sentiment, Del? Me?”

Avon was smiling but it was a sad sort of smile.

“Only for Anna,” he said softly. “Only for her.”

Del believed him.

*

It was late and they were all tired but they didn’t want to sleep. Del’s mind was confused with drink, with tiredness, with a stir of fears that he couldn’t voice. Avon looked half-asleep, staring at them with heavy-lidded eyes.

“I’m not afraid,” Anna said quietly. She was tracing patterns on Del’s hand, small loops and whirls that made his skin tingle. “Not really. I know Avon will take care of me, I know … but this has been one of the best times of my life, Del, I want you to know that. I’ve been so happy, so … you didn’t even have to let me stay and you opened your door to me and you introduced me to your friends and you let me … and I know … oh Del.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck. He hugged her, close as he could, breathing in her flowers, reaching up to stroke her hair.

“I love you so much,” she said, her voice breaking. “Oh Del, I really do.”

He kissed the side of her neck. He kissed her cheek. 

He kissed her mouth.

He didn’t mean to. He meant to stop after the first brush. He didn’t meant to linger there, to kiss deeper, harder. And then Anna was kissing him back and he couldn’t stop, he _couldn’t_ and she was kissing him still, her hand on the back of his neck and oh, this was so wrong, so very wrong …

He pulled back with a gasp and his eyes met Avon’s over Anna's shoulder. Avon stared at him, his eyes wide, his mouth slightly open.

“Don’t stop,” he said. “Don’t stop … ”

So Del didn’t.

*

He replayed the night a thousand times in his mind later.

Touching, so much touching. Avon arching into him, moaning helplessly into his mouth. Anna’s nails digging into his arms, leaving marks. The warmth of them both, their bodies pressed to his, legs and arms and hips. Needing more, always needing more and them both giving and giving and giving …

Anna slept for a little while afterwards, warm and heavy in Del’s arms. He dozed until he realised Avon was watching him, then he suddenly was suddenly very awake.

“I’m not going to take her from you, Avon. I … I know this was … this was just … ”

“You think I don’t understand need, Del?”

It was all Avon said but it was comforting from him. 

“I will never let anyone hurt her, Del. I promise you. She will always be safe with me.”

*

Anna hugged him goodbye, her arms tight around his neck.

“Del, do something for me?”

“Anything.”

“Hide,” she said, looking at him. “Just, just for a few days. I’m scared, I know … please. Just for me? You have friends, just go away with one of them, somebody we don’t know. Just for a few days. Make me feel that you’re safe.”

“All right,” he promised. Why not? He had been out of the loop with his “real” work for a while. With Anna gone, he could do something, distract himself for a while.

She sagged with relief.

“Thank you. Thank you. Oh Del. I love you. Thank you.”

He and Avon didn’t say goodbye. They had already said what needed to be said.

*

He met up with Kessa Leepol, a long-standing associate, asked her for work. Kessa always had something on the go and within minutes, she’d suggested several jobs of various pay-scales. Del was actually considering doing a cheaper one – after all, he _was_ very rich currently – when the news began to come over Kessa’s channels.

Arrests. A lot of arrests, seemingly unconnected at first. At least until Del looked at them.

“Avon. They all know Avon.”

Anna’s fears had been correct. They were after Avon.

*

It was a day later that he heard about the next arrest. He would have left immediately but Kessa wouldn’t allow it. He was in her safe house now. She chose if he left or not.

“How?! How could it happen? _How could it happen?!_ ” he ranted at her.

“They find people, Grant! It only takes one mistake, you know that!”

“Avon wasn’t supposed to make mistakes! They _knew_ … have they caught him?”

“No. Not yet.”

“He’ll have a plan,” he said numbly. “He’ll help her. If I can’t do it, he will. He loves her. He won’t let her down.”

“Of course he will,” Kessa said quietly.

*

It took Anna a week to die.

He prayed that it had been quick. Painless. They could have spent a long time on the softening up process, they did that sometimes. Perhaps Anna was able to kill herself before they could really hurt her. Perhaps someone slipped her something to ease it. There were opinions. So many options. It didn’t have to have been brutal. It didn’t have to have been awful, it didn’t have to been agonising and terrible, it could have been quick, it could have been, it could have been …

Avon hadn’t come for her.

Avon had run.

“He can’t have done, Kess. He can’t. He loved her. He _loved_ her.”

“I’m sorry, Del. I’m really sorry. The visa was used, I have the evidence. He just got scared. Everybody gets scared. He just … ”

“He just _left her to die!_ ”

It wasn’t fair. He’d only just found her, only just realised …

It wasn’t fair.

*

He would never forgive Avon.

Avon had let it happen. He had promised. He had _sworn_. And then he’d run. He’d run from her, the coward, the coward had _run_. 

Del wouldn’t have run. He’d have protected her. He’d have protected them both.

He had believed in Avon and Avon had destroyed him.

Destroyed them both.

*

He threw himself into jobs. It was all he could do. Kessa watched over him, although she pretended that she wasn’t. Del let her. He didn’t care. He didn’t care about anything.

Months passed. Meaningless time.

Then he saw Avon again.

Avon stepped towards him, almost smiling, his eyes wide in his face, holding out a hand in supplication.

“Del …”

Del punched him. He punched him and punched him and tried to get his hands around his throat. Avon kicked, struggled, threw his hands up to deflect the blows.

“Stop it, Del, stop it, please, please!”

“Your fault! It’s your fault, I’ll kill you, _I will kill you!_ ”

Then Kessa was there between them, shoving him back, glaring at him.

“Stop you fool, do you want to get arrested, _stop it!_ ”

“Del, please.” Avon’s voice was slurred, there was blood in his mouth. “Del … ”

“Get away from me,” he whispered. “Never come near me again. Never. I swear I’ll kill you. I swear it.”

Avon fled. Kessa dragged Del away, slapped him in the face for endangering them. Del didn’t mind. He felt oddly better, oddly clearer.

“I need to get away from here, Kessa.”

She found him a job away from Earth, got him a visa under a false name. Del flew out the next day, the spaceship vibrating beneath him. He tried to push everything out of his mind. Every memory, good and bad. Earth was dead to him now.

He was never coming back.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the b7friday prompt "minor character"


End file.
